European major oil transport and storage companies are battling with cyber-attacks. Companies including Evos (Netherlands), SEA-Invest (Belgium), and Oiltanking (Germany) are witnessing the disruption of their IT infrastructure. These attacks are having a global effect, with about a dozen terminals being affected. The affected companies confirmed its occurrence in the last few days.
According to Oxford Dictionaries, cyber-attacks are “the act of trying to damage or destroy a computer network, computer system or website by secretly changing information on it without permission”.
Although, the severity of this attack is yet to be determined. Analysts in the industry asserted that the three companies were significantly affected by significant disruption and total collapse of their IT systems. A spokeswoman for SEA-Invest affirmed the incident and said it affected every port of the company in Africa and Europe.
While Belgian prosecutors have started investigation, there is no confirmation of such moves in Africa. The company is present in Senegal, South Africa and Ivory Coast. There has been no official statement from the three African countries about the attack and the depth of impact on the ports. Despite the attack, the liquid transportation remains operational while the company seeks to restore their backup IT system.
Ransomware is “type of software that is designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid”.
On the other hand, Evos has confirmed that Malta, Ghent, and Terneuzen are the ports affected. As of the press time, no conclusion has been reached concerning the source of this attack.
Cyberattacks in Oil and Gas Industry
The energy sector has been a victim of cyberattacks. In 2017, Notpetya (Ukraine) was attacked 2017, resulting in the shutdown of almost the country’s entire power grid. This is not the first time that oil installations have been attacked. In May 2021, U.S. oil supplier Colonial Pipeline experienced supply problems due to a ransomware attack. It resulted in limited capacity across the U.S., resulting in an emergency.
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Cyberattacks on energy firms might impact different aspects such as confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It can even result in endangering the lives of workers. Ahmed Bakr, a Saudi Arabian senior cybersecurity officer (CSO), stated that “Oil and gas companies are targets of cybercriminals. We all are. Their attacks are intended to target a company’s systems and inflict damage by compromising the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of data for example.” The companies are exposed to large-scale threats because of the transnational nature of the players. The threat can even come from activists that can even be environmental groups.
Research conducted by the U.S. research institute Ponemon in 2017 discovered that 68percent of U.S. oil and gas companies had experienced a form of cyber attack resulting in loss of confidential information or operational disruption. This further attests to Norway’s experience of 50 oil and Energy companies being infected with Trojan virus. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) cited the energy sector as the most vulnerable industry to cyber-attacks. Hence, the need for the energy sector to focus on cyber resilience.